The 13th vessel
by InfernalFox
Summary: A collection of one-shots of Sora being the 13th seeker of darkness
1. Chapter 1: Again

**Hello! InfernalFox here!**

 **So, to celebrate Saint Valentine's Day, i made this! It's also in Tumblr and in AO3, just saying.**

 **And now, to the story.**

Kairi didn't accept Sora was gone. Not the slightest.

 _ **In the end, that was what killed her**_

"Sora!" Kairi yelled at him. It had been over a month since Sora had been possessed by Xehanort. It had been an ambush that came out of nowhere and in the chaos that came after that, Kairi was captured. An ultimatum was sent: Give up Sora or the Princess would be lost to darkness forever. Everyone had tried to stop Sora, but he sneaked in the middle of the night to pull one last heroic stunt.

Kairi had appeared the next day, not remembering anything. And there was no sign of the darknesses in any of the worlds. Morale was very low without Sora. Kairi was understandably guilty and tried to take Sora's place, but it didn't work and she had emotional breakdowns at night.

With time, things got worse and worse. Riku and Kairi slowly drifted apart, both focused in their own things. Kairi trained every day to exhaustion until Master Yen Sid ordered her to take a break. Riku kept disappearing for longer periods of time to look for Sora, and once returned with a exhausted Roxas and a unresponsive Ventus. He said he found them wandering in Castle Oblivion, slowly forgetting themselves

Lea, at the start, blamed himself. It just reminded him of how every time he made a friend, he always messed it up one way or another. Isa, Roxas, Ven… Xi- that girl. So he sulked and had random bouts of uncontrolled magic. Then, he did like kairi and started pushing himself. _Hard._ There was some close calls in which he would put too much of himself in his attacks. It made everyone worry, but there wasn't much they could do. They had more important things to worry about, like gathering the guardians and stopping themselves from drifting so far apart they would turn against each other.

Mickey too, changed. He became more focused. Less smiles. He did more things by himself, and ordered Donald and Goofy to go back to protect Minnie, ignoring their protests. He went into the dark realm alone, and rescued Aqua. All by himself, but when he returned he seemed more worn than ever.

Roxas… he wasn't himself. He was traumatized, having seen some of the stuff that had happened to Sora before he was expelled with everybody else. He had seen the Xion he knew fade, this time for good. The memories that had created her corrupted beyond measure. Her happy blue eyes, forever gone. He never told Axel (Did he even remember?). He never told anybody. He sometimes would space out, spend minutes staring at the void until Ven snapped him out of it.

And Ven… he slept, mostly. He was missing a good chunk of his heart, courtesy of Vanitas, and Sora wasn't there to help him cope with it. He was less than half a person, and his Keyblade showed this. Wayward Wind had cracks running all over the blade, just like his heart. Too hard of a shove, and he could snap into a thousand pieces, with no one to heal his heart in.

Aqua was changed. He had to wear a bandage over her eyes for a while, because the sun hurt her eyes. She kept forgetting about eating. She had to be reminded more than once that she was not trapped in darkness anyone. She spent an unbelievable amount of time mothering Ven, until said person snapped and called her out to it.

Lea left, one day. He left a note saying that he couldn't take it anymore, that he was going to find Isa and Sora and get his idiotic friends back and fix everything. He was tired of training and waiting. The War had started when they took Sora, and no one could tell him otherwise. Hiding was naught.

Kairi went after that. She left to find Sora and bring him home. She had waited for years for her boys to let her fight, but now that she was actually fighting she found out that... she didn't necessarily _like_ it. If this is how Sora had felt while looking for them and saving the worlds then... maybe she could understand why he used to be so tired of fighting. It was just so... heartbreaking. Everyone was turning against each other. The Lights were more like different factions than one united team. Without Sora to keep them together, they were like strangers to each other.

So Kairi looked. She looked all over the place. She fought against all kind of enemies and sneering faces until she finally found him. A month passed.

Or more precise _he_ found _her_.

It was in Destiny Islands, in the small island they used to play together as kids, she found him waiting in the beach, just like in the good old days, before this whole mess started.

"Sora?" She said, surprised and her heart in her chest. Was it really him? But that mess of brown spikes was unmistakable, even if he was wearing a black coat.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled at him. He got up slowly, like he just woke from a nap in the beach like he used to do. He turned around and to her relief, his eyes were blue "Hey Kairi!" He said cheerfully with a smile, like nothing had happened like _he hadn't disappeared for a whole month,_ like a war wasn't going on, like nothing mattered in the world and it was just the three of them again. A small part of Kairi expected Riku to pop out of nowhere and nag them about the raft.

Kairi dispelled those thoughts out of her mind, now was not the time to dwell in the past, even as how desirable it looked. Never before this mess had she wished to be able to go back to happier times (now that she knew time travel was possible she sometimes considered going back, changing everything, but she knew it was a fool's wish, this had started way before them)

Sora walked up to her and tried to say something but couldn't, because Kairi had embraced him in a giant hug "Where were you!? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Kairi said, tears falling from her eyes, somehow both sounding angry and concerned at the same time.

Sora's eyes widened in surprise, and he let out a nervous laugh "Hey Kairi, I'm ok! No need to cry! I'm perfectly fine and in one piece, sorry for scaring you! No need to worry about me!"

Kairi weakly punched him in his chest "Where were you? We been all worried sick!" Sora ignored her, and looked at her hand frowning. There was a small white scar, where a Shadow had attacked her by surprise. She had thought it would be a waste to use a Potion on such a small wound, so she let it heal naturally "How did you get this? Are you ok?" He asked, a strange emotion in his voice.

Kairi quickly held the offending hand in her chest. The hair in the back of her neck started tingling, like static electricity. "This? It's nothing Sora. Stop avoiding my questions!" She said defensively. Something was not right...

Sora once again ignored her, trapped in his own thoughts. "You got hurt..." He said, staring at nothing at particular. He suddenly snapped into focus "You got hurt and I wasn't there to protect you" He took a step forward, and Kairi took a step back in response, not knowing why. A small voice in her head told her to run, get away from here, but she ignored it. This was Sora, for the Love of Kingdom Hearts! Her friend! She shouldn't be afraid of him!

But she was.

She was and she hated it.

"It's just a scratch Sora! You don't need to protect me anymore, I can fight too!" She said heatedly, tired of being treated like glass. Just because she was a princess didn't mean she couldn't fight. She was tired of being left on the sidelines, of being protected ( _"This time, I'll protect you")_

Sora suddenly seemed sad "Just because you think you can fight doesn't mean you can. Just because you can fight doesn't mean you have to. Kairi, I can protect you. _I will protect you_ " Sora said with determined eyes, a fire burning in his eyes. He summoned his Keyblade, but it had changed.

Kairi summoned her Keyblade in anger "Stop treating me like a kid! I can fight" She charged, determined to show Sora this.

Sora's eyes gleamed with a yellowish light "Then show it to me!"

She lost.

She completely lost to him. Sora was like lighting, he hit hard and he hit hard. No amount of Slow or Stopga could keep him still for long. No Bind could hold him down. No Mine Shield could trip him.

Sora approached her exhausted body. He barely seemed tired. How bad was his journeys, that she couldn't even seem to land a hit?

A shadow covered her face from the merciless sun. No matter how much she tried to, her body would not answer to her. She was tired, both physically and emotionally. She had gathered a very important fact while they fought.

"I'm sorry Kairi, this is for your own good" Sora _(Xehanort)_ raised his Keyblade.

And then she felt it, her heart leaving her body once again. She felt a pang of irony, they had gone full circle it seemed. Destiny Islands, a place of beginnings. A paradise to some, a prison to others, a home for all.

It was a beautiful to place to die. It was a wonderful place to lose her heart once again and be left to the mercy of her possessed friend.

Again

 **Aaaand… done!**

 **(As you can see, I'm kind of in a hurry XD. I've been busy lately, so that's why i haven't written as much as I used to. Don't worry, I'll get back into the habit)**

 **InfernalFox OUT!**


	2. Chapter 2: Changed

**(EDIT 14 OF FEBRUARY: MOVED CHAPTER 2 TO CHAPTER 1 AND VICEVERSA)**

No….

 _This couldn't be possible!_

"Now that's no way to look at a friend, _Riku_ " his worst nightmare said.

 _Sora…._

"what did they do to you?!" he asked desperately

"Me?" he asked innocently "nothing. You were right Riku, darkness is _much_ better than light" he said smiling.

Riku looked at him horrified.

"I-I was wrong Sora! I didn't mean what I said! I was under Maleficent's influence!" the excuse sounded weak to his ears, and his possessed friend knew it.

"Oh, really? What about when we were trapped in the Realm Of Darkness? You didn't mean what you said back then too? Even if you were "yourself" at that moment?" "Sora" said with a sadistic smile.

Riku's eyes darkened at the mention of that. It had been a low point in his life.

"What did Xehanort do to you?!" He asked, trying to find his cheerfully friend under all that darkness.

"He just showed me the truth" Sora created a ball of darkness in his hand "He was right, darkness _is_ the heart's true essence!"

Riku shivered. Hearing those words from Sora sounded just _wrong_.

Sora suddenly threw the dark ball at him, but he ducked at the last moment, only to find himself pinned to the wall of the Secret Place by a dark version of the Kingdom Key.

"What, giving up already Riku?" Sora said with a chuckle.

"I won't fight you Sora!" Riku said determined.

"Oh well. And here I wanted to test the power of a so-called _"_ Master _"_ " Sora said sighting.

Sora pressed harder.

Riku was starting to have a hard time breathing.

"You don't deserve that title" Sora kept going "After all what kind of Master can't save his own friend?"

" _Yeah_ " a voice in Riku's head said " _Why couldn't you save him? Weren't you right there?_ "

He then remembered Young Xehanort's words. " _Your mistakes always end up being other people's problems_ "  
"I know I couldn't save you Sora…" Riku said "But we can help you now! We can take Xehanort out of your heart if you come with me! You don't have to listen to him! I know you are in there Sora!"

In response, he only found himself getting pressed harder. Riku started to lose consciousness.

"Hmm, Now don't you drive a hard bargain?" Sora said smirking " Sadly, I don't think my Master would be very happy with me if I did that"

The last words Riku heard before he lost consciousness were

"Goodbye, Riku"

And he blacked out

 **Aaaand…. done!**

 **I have been feeling very inspired lately and I love Soranort. Since I don't know how to write him, I will be trying different personalities**.

 **I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **InfernalFox OUT!**


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